GRAND FORKS, N.D. – The Drake University volleyball team suffered two losses on the first day of the UND Classic on Friday, Sept. 11.

The Bulldogs (6-4) opened play in the four-game tournament with a 3-0 loss to host North Dakota, 25-22, 25-17, 25-21. In the evening match, the squad fell to Green Bay, 3-1, by scores of 25-22, 25-13, 27-29, 25-15.

Makena Schoene (Seattle, Wash.) led the Bulldogs on the day with 20 kills on the day while Kyla Inderski (Urbandale, Iowa) had 17. Chandelle Davidson (Gretna, Neb.) accounted for 41 of the teams 83 assists. The Bulldogs were without the services of two their middle blockers and faced a 15-3 deficit in blocks in the two matches.

The Bulldogs hit .236 in the opening match while falling for the second-straight match to UND. Drake led for the majority of the first set, but UND outscored the Bulldogs down the stretch, 12-6, to rally for the set win. UND jumped out to a 14-4 lead in the second set thanks to a 10-0 run behind Courtney Place's serving to cruise to the 25-17 win. Drake again led early in the third set but could not hold on to that lead as UND scored six of the final seven points of the match to take the final set and the match.

Green Bay hit 40 percent or better in two of the four evening sets as the three sets the Phoenix won had just four combined lead changes and ties. Facing a 2-0 deficit in the match, Drake used a 4-0 run off Rachel Goettl's (Rice Lake, Wis.) serving to take a 15-11 lead. However, Green Bay answered with a 10-5 run of its own to take a 21-20 lead. From there the match featured 12 ties/lead changes before back-to-back kills from Katie Dulek (Lenexa, Kan.) and Schoene propelled the Bulldogs to a 29-27 win. Unfortunately Drake could not maintain that momentum in the fourth set as the Phoenix rolled out to an 11-3 lead and never looked back in dispatching the Bulldogs, 25-15.

The team returns to action for two more games on Saturday as part of the UND Classic. The Bulldogs take on Jacksonville State at 9:30 a.m. followed by a 5 p.m. match against South Dakota.